Chicago

Lincoln Park is widely-recognized as one of the most attractive, vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, culturally rich and architecturally-interesting neighborhoods in America. Spend an hour or two walking around and you’ll have a solid feel for how Lincoln Park differs from other Chicago neighborhoods, and for why people want to live there.

Lake View is the preferred destination for many in the post-collegiate crowd, and most households consist of singles and young couples. Families with school-age children are scarce in most parts of Lake View, but more common in the Southport Corridor and Graceland West areas. The high-rise condos along Lake Shore Drive house an older crowd.

The Gold Coast, Near North and Old Town neighborhoods have a decidedly more residential feel than other downtown Chicago neighborhoods, with great, pedestrian-scale vintage architecture side-by-side with the newer buildings and high-rises.

An aerial view of Lincoln Park from North Ave (1600 N) to Diversey Pkwy (2800 N) explains a great deal about the attractions of living in a high-rise in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, and where those high-rises are situated. The broadest expanse of one of the nation’s greatest urban parks is, literally, the front yard ...

River North has a broad selection of new and nearly-new loft condos and condo and rental high-rises, and a smattering of vintage walk-ups, higher-priced townhomes and single-families. Many of the buildings offer dramatic skyline views including 3 new rental high-rises opened in 2010. These communities and others are listed and linked on our Guide to renting in Chicago’s River North.

It’s called Old Town for a reason – the neighborhood is one of the first parts of Chicago to be settled in the 1800s, and its Old Town Triangle Landmark District still includes many homes built in the years following the great fire that destroyed much of the city in 1871. That said, the Old ...

Chicago has many vibrant neighborhoods, but the Gold Coast is the destination of choice for many North Shore residents looking for a pied-à-terre or a new permanent residence in the city. It stands alone among Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods in its almost exclusively residential character, offering an instant ”at home” experience to people who’ve become accustomed to North Shore living.

There are scores of reasons to rent in the near west neighborhoods, among them proximity to the Loop, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Medical District, easy access to major expressways and public transit. We’ve listed all of the major apartment and loft complexes in the area, with links to their Web sites, Walk Scores and ratings, where available.

There are hundreds of condos and a few townhomes available for rent in Streeterville, the neighborhood bounded by the river, the lake, Michigan Avenue and Walton Street. We’ve listed the apartment towers with links to their websites and reviews, when available.

The major attractions of the South Loop are its proximity to the Loop and to the lakefront parks. It’s also relatively affordable, compared to the near-north neighborhoods and closer-in Loop locations. There are fewer than a dozen major apartment complexes (and only a handful of smaller ones) in the South Loop, which we’ve listed in order of their proximity to the heart of the Loop.

Living in the heart of downtown Chicago limits your options to high-rise apartments and condos. There are only eleven rental towers in the Loop / New East Side, and we’ve listed them in this guide, with links to their Web sites and reviews, if available.

Suburbs

The Village of Winnetka is considered by many to be the “crown jewel of the North Shore,”. Schools, parks, recreational amenities, transportation, housing stock, the natural and built environment, public safety, civic life and institutions, social and charitable organizations, and the community’s intellectual diversity and vitality all rank among the very best in Chicagoland.

The North Shore suburbs of Chicago are stunningly attractive places to live – so much so that many nearby suburbs lay claim to the North Shore’s superior cachet. The North Shore communities – from south to north along the shore of Lake Michigan – are Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff.

Trends & advice

Video is today’s most prolific medium and buyers look for it specifically. Do you need a video to market your home? You decide, but not until you check out some of the options and misconceptions about video that you’ll find in this guide.

What is a loft? Lofts are cool, sexy, dramatic fun spaces bristling with character and rich in visual appeal – and that’s why the term is used so loosely by real estate agents. Not everything that’s called a loft is a loft. Strictly speaking, a loft is a large, open, ...